America Left The Paris Agreement And Lost Its Position As A World Leader

Last Thursday was the last straw. The withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Agreement finally shattered my illusion that America is a responsible global leader within the twenty-first century.

Americans, just like everyone else from each nation, are raised to think that their country is the best. America is the leader of the free world, fighters for peace and democracy (erm, right?), and brilliant innovators. We invented LASERs, chemotherapy, the incandescent light bulb, Voyager 1, and the cookie. With all of these accomplishments, it’s easy to believe that we are number one.

Sure, as I got older I realized that other countries were also distinguished, and had their own remarkable feats. In many cases, like in Canada, Norway, France, and the Netherlands (among others), the quality of life is probably better. Iceland, Costa Rica, and Germany have all decided to create progressive and respectful relationships with the natural land.

I’ve known for some time now that America is not the best when it comes to everything, but I certainly still have believed that the US was a responsible global leader, and probably the most powerful one. With a president like Barack Obama, who was intelligent, subtly tough, and created bridges and friendships with other nations, it wasn’t difficult to have faith in the U.S. as a (maybe even one of the best) world leader.

It’s humbling for an American to realize that the U.S., apart from not being “number one,” is federally deciding to ignore science, ignore the future, and to ignore a promising opportunity for growth in technologies. In short, by consciously deciding not to step up to this world crisis — climate change — Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement has disillusioned me from my belief that America is still a responsible global leader.

Staying in the Paris Agreement would have shown to the world that the U.S. is still a good global leader, despite the recent election. But instead, Trump shuttered any dreams that the US (at least for now) is a great world leader. Some of our cities, some of our state’s, many of our businesses, and most of our citizens continue to march forward as responsible and concerned entities. But for now, America the Nation is not. And I’m just going to have to deal with that.

Kristin is a Florida native and she loves going to the beach, traveling, practicing yoga, reading good books (especially Harry Potter), and thinking pretty things. She's also kinda obsessed with her black labrador.